Influence of Wear Profile Geometry on Critical Plane Fatigue Crack Initiation Criteria in Plane and Axisymmetric Elastic Fretting Contacts

The subsurface elastic stress fields in plane and axisymmetric contacts with friction under oscillating tangential loading are calculated via a very robust, high-precision method, which operates appropriate superpositions of analytic solutions for the respective Hertzian contact problems. Based on fields, two critical fatigue crack initiation criteria—the Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) parameter Findley parameter—are evaluated three types profile geometries: (unworn) parabolic contact, partial slip limiting wear an initially truncated contact. Appropriate scaling laws introduced to formulate general solution terms non-dimensional variables. criteria determined full plane. It is found that profile—which may originate from sliding wear—has practically same local distribution as unworn profile, despite (weak) singularity at edge flat face. other hand, exhibits strong boundary permanent stick zone, drastically increased (and theoretically infinite). Also, while profiles high values extremely localized around “hotspots” surface, they reach much deeper into material. This offers new explanation dominance failure regime fretting. differences between cases generally small. SWT more than parameter.